GB2245288A

GB2245288A - Automatic flushing control apparatus for urinal

Info

Publication number: GB2245288A
Application number: GB9112717A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hidetaka Tsutsui
Original assignee: URO Electronics Ind Co Ltd
Current assignee: URO Electronics Ind Co Ltd
Priority date: 1990-06-13
Filing date: 1991-06-13
Publication date: 1992-01-02
Anticipated expiration: 2011-06-13
Also published as: GB2245288B; HK111695A; GB9112717D0

Abstract

An automatic water closet pot washing apparatus (10) comprises a sensor for sensing an access to and a departure from the pot, of a far infrared ray generating source, a signal processor for processing a signal outputted from the sensor when the sensor senses one of an access to or a departure from the pot, of the far infrared ray generating source, a drive signal generating circuit for outputting a drive signal when the signal, outputted from the sensor when the sensor senses an access to the pot of the far infrared ray generating source, continues for a predetermined time period, a drive source which is driven by the drive signal, a power transmission mechanism for transmitting a power from the drive source, a lever responsive to the operation of the power transmission mechanism for depressing a push button of a washing apparatus mounted on the pot, and a mount base for mounting the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus on the pot. <IMAGE>

Description

AUTOMATIC WASHING APPARATUS FOR WATER CLOSET POT The present invention relates to an automatic washing apparatus for automatically washing a water closet male urinal after it was used, and more particularly to such an automatic washing apparatus which can be mounted on an already installed water closet pot.

In washing a water closet pot, such as a male urinal, after it was used, a push button for supplying washing liquid is depressed which is mounted above the pot to supply washing liquid from the top to bottom of the male urinal. However, an automatic washing apparatus has been recently used which is capable of detecting a use of a urinal and automatically supplying washing liquid for a predetermined time by using an electromagnetic valve without using a push button.

However, such an automatic washing apparatus is mounted after an already installed washing apparatus with a push button is removed. Therefore, not only the old washing apparatus is disposed, but also the mount work is cumbersome and requires a long time during which the water closet cannot be used. Furthermore, such a mount work is difficult unless an expert carries out it, resulting in an expensive cost of the work.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a compact, automatic water closet pot washing apparatus capable of being readily mounted on an already installed washing apparatus without dismounting and disposing the already installed washing apparatus, and automatically washing the pot by supplying washing liquid to the pot after it was used.

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic water closet pot washing apparatus having a sensor for sensing an access to and a departure from the pot, of a far infrared ray generating source, a signal processor for processing a signal outputted from the sensor when the sensor senses one of an access to and a departure from the pot, of the far infrared ray generating source, a drive signal generating circuit for outputting a drive signal when the signal, outputted from the sensor when the sensor senses an access to the pot, of the far infrared ray generating source, continues for a predetermined time period, a drive source which is driven by the drive signal, a power transmission mechanism for transmitting a power to the drive source, a lever responsive to the operation of the power transmission mechanism for depressing a push button of a washing apparatus mounted on the pot, and a mount base for mounting the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus on the pot.

According to the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus of the present invention, a mount base is coupled to the pot, and the automatic washing apparatus is mounted on the mount base. After a predetermined time period from when a sensor senses an access to the pot of a far infrared ray generating source such as a human body and outputs a sense signal, if the sensor outputs a sense signal upon detection of a departure of the far infrared generating source, a drive signal is caused to be outputted to accordingly drive a drive source. The power to this drive source is transmitted via a power transmission mechanism to a lever which in turn actuates a push button of an already installed washing apparatus of the pot. As a result, the washing apparatus supplies washing liquid to the pot to wash it.

In the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is an upright cross section showing the structure of an automatic water closet pot washing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partial perspective view showing the main part of the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of a circuit fpr driving a gear train used in the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a cross section showing the main part of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a plan view of a switching means used in the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a signal outputted from a sensor when detecting a far infrared ray, the sensor being used in the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;; Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating a signal outputted from the sensor when not detecting a far infrared ray, the sensor being used in the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 8 is a timing chart illustrating the operation when driving a motor used in the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 9 is a timing chart illustrating the operation when not driving the motor used in the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a push button type washing apparatus capable of being mounted with the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus of the present invention.

The embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus 10 of the present invention has a driver unit 11 and a sensor unit 12. The driver unit 11 has a case 13 for accommodating a gear train, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The case 13 serves as a mount base for mounting the water closet pot equipped with a washing apparatus having a push button. The case 13 is constructed of an upper unit and a lower unit. The top wall of the upper unit of the case 13 has an opening. A motor 14 as a driver source is housed within the case 13.

A gear 16 fixedly connected to a rotary shaft 15 of the motor 14 meshes via a gear 18 fixedly connected to a shaft 17 with a gear 20 fixedly connected to a shaft 19.

A gear 21 is also fixedly connected to the shaft 19.

This gear 21 meshes with a gear 23 fixedly connected to a shaft 22. A gear 24 fixedly connected also to the shaft 22 meshes with a gear 25. This gear 25 is fixedly connected to a rotary shaft 26 rotatably supported by the case 13, the rotary shaft 26 being made of conductive material. Rotation of the motor 14 is transmitted therefore by the above-described gear train to the rotary shaft 26. The transmission ratio of the gear train may be set as desired by determining the number of threads of each gear.

A conductive disc cam 27 is electrically and fixedly connected to the rotary shaft 26. The disc cam 27 has recesses 28 at predetermined positions of the outer periphery of the cam (in this embodiment, two recesses diametrically opposed to each other). The disc cam 27 is placed on and fixed to the top surface of a nonconductive reinforcing disk 29 fixedly connected to the rotary shaft 26. The disc cam 27 and reinforcing disk 26 are disposed near at the bottom of the case 13, and are arranged to be rotatable integrally with the rotary shaft 26. The recesses 28 of the disk cam 27 extend inwards the outer circumference of the reinforcing disk 29 as shown in Fig. 5.Namely, the outer diameter of the reinforcing disk 29 fixedly. connected to the rotary shaft 26 is smaller than the outer circumference of the disk cam 27, and larger than the distance between the bottom edges of the two recesses 28.

A contact plate 30 made of elastic phosphor bronze is in contact with the outer periphery of the disk cam 27 rotating integrally with the rotary shaft 26, the contact plate 30 being arranged to enter the recesses during the rotation of the disk cam 27. While the contact plate 30 is in contact with the outer periphery of the disk cam 27, the contact plate 30 and the disk cam 27 are electrically connected. While the contact plate 30 is within the recess 28 of the disk cam 27, they are not electrically connected. Therefore, the disk cam 27 having the recesses 28 and the contact plate 30 constitute a switching means. Since the contact plate 30 is elastic, the contact plate 30 is allowed to enter and exit the recesses 28 during the rotation of the disk cam 27.It is preferable to form circular edge portions in the recesses 28 in order to make the entrance and exit of the contact plate 30 more smooth.

A rotary disk plate 31 is mounted at the top end of the rotary shaft 26 such that the rotary disk plate 31 rotates integrally with the rotary shaft 26. Rollers 32 and 33 are rotatably mounted on the top surface of the rotary disk plate 31, the rollers 32 and 33 being disposed at the diametrically opposed outer peripheral positions of the rotary disk plate 31. The rotary disk plate 31 extends out of the opening formed in the top wall of the outer unit of the case 13, and is positioned outside of the case 13. A contact plate 34 made of phosphor bronze is always in electrical contact with the rotary shaft 26 at the position between the top wall of the case upper unit and the rotary disk plate 31. The above-described shafts, gears, disk cam, rotary disk plate, rollers, and the like constitute a power transmission mechanism for transmitting the rqtation force of the motor 14.

An elongated lever 35 is mounted on the top wall of the upper unit of the case 13. This lever 35 is rotatably supported by a bearing shaft 36 formed on the top wall of the case upper unit. The lever 35 has a relatively large area portion 37 at one end thereof. The large area portion 37 is formed with an opening 38 generally of an ellipsoid shape, the opening 38 providing a cam function. The opening 38 corresponds in position to the opening formed in the top wall of the case upper unit. The rollers 32 and 33 mounted on the rotary disk plate 31 are engaged with and in contact with the inner wall of the opening 38. At the other end of the lever 35, there is mounted an actuation button 39 for depressing a push button 101 of a washing apparatus which supplies washing liquid to a water closet pot 100.

The rollers 32 and 33 are mounted at suitable positions of the rotary disk plate 31 such that as the rollers rotate and make a circular motion (circular motion having a diameter corresponding to the distance between the rollers 32 and 33) in contact with the inner wall of the ellipsoidal opening 38, the lever 35 pivots about the bearing shaft 35 so that the actuation button 39 of the lever 35 can depress the push button 101 of the washing apparatus at a proper timing. More specifically, the position of the roller 32 is determined in the following manner. As the roller 32 makes a circular motion and when it reaches the position X of the ellipsoidal opening 38, the actuation button 39 of the lever 35 depresses the push button 101 down to the most depressed position. As the roller 32 further continues the circular motion, it reaches a position Y.During the span from the position X and the position Y, the push button 101 is retracted to the initial position. Such an arrangement is also applied to the roller 33. Provision of the two rollers 32 and 33 allows a stronger force for pivoting the lever 35.

The sensor unit 12 is provided with a sensor such as a heat ray sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor or the like. In this embodiment, the sensor unit 12 is provided with a pyrometer or pyroelectric sensor 41 which senses a far infrared ray 40 of a predetermined frequency range radiated from an infrared ray generating source such as a human body and outputs an electric signal. At the next stage of this pyroelectric sensor 41, there is disposed a signal processor 42 for processing the electric signal inputted from the pyroelectric sensor 41. At the next stage of the signal processor 42, there is disposed a drive signal generator 43 having a one-shot multi-vibrator, inverters, AND gate, and the like. A switching circuit 44 is connected to the drive signal generator 43.One end terminal of the switching circuit 44 is connected to the negative terminal of a power source 45 such as a dry battery, and another end terminal is connected to the negative terminal of the motor 14. The positive terminal of the power source 45 is connected to the other terminal of the motor 14.

The negative terminal of the power source 45 is also connected to the contact plate 34. The contact plate 30 is connected to the one terminal of the motor 14. The motor 14 is arranged to be powered via a closed circuit constructed of the contact plate 34, rotary shaft 26, disk cam 27, and contact plate 30.

The operation of the pyroelectric sensor 41 will be described below.

The pyroelectric sensor 41 senses a temperature change and outputs a signal. If no temperature change is present, it does not output the signal.

If a human body comes near the detection range of the pyroelectric sensor 41, the ambient temperature detected by the pyroelectric sensor 41 rises so that it outputs a detection signal a having a positive level as shown in Fig. 6. On the other hand, if the human body goes away from the detection range, the ambient temperature falls so that the pyroelectric sensor 41 outputs a detection signal b having a negative level as shown in Fig. 7. In practical use of the pyroelectric sensor 41, there is incorporated a means for converging a far infrared ray (having a peak wavelength of 10 zm in the case of a human body) emanated from a human body at a distant position from the sensor 41. In this case, as a lens for efficiently transmitting a far infrared ray while preserving a good refraction coefficient, there is a lens using germanium or polyethylene.In this embodiment, a Fresnel lens using polyethylene is used from the viewpoint of cost effectiveness.

In this embodiment, a one-shot multivibrator (not shown) is turned on for a predetermined time period upon reception of a detection signal a which is outputted when a human body comes near the pyroelectric sensor 41.

During this predetermined turn-on period of the one-shot multivibrator, the switching circuit 44 is arranged not to be turned on even if a detection signal b is received when the human body goes away from the pyroelectric sensor 41. This predetermined turn-on time may be set to substantially the same time period necessary for a person to use the water closet urinal, for example, about 7 to 8 seconds.

The operation of the embodiment constructed as above will be described.

If an object such as a human body which radiates a far infrared ray 40 comes near the pot 100 while the power source 45 is turned on and the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus is under operation, the pyroelectric sensor 41 senses the far infrared ray 40 and outputs a detection signal a (refer to Fig. 8A). The signal processor 42 processes the detection signal a to wave-shape it into a pulse signal al (refer to Fig. 8B).

This pulse signal al causes the one-shot multivibrator (not shown) to turn on for a predetermined time period (refer to Fig. 8C).

After a lapse of a time period necessary for a person to use the urinal, i.e., after a lapse of the predetermined on-time period of the one-shot multivibrator, the pyroelectric sensor 41 senses a temperature change so that it outputs a detection signal b (refer to Fig. 8D). This detection signal b is processed by the signal processor to wave-shape it into a pulse signal bl (refer to Fig. 8E). The turn-off signal of the one-shot multivibrator and the pulse signal bl are inverted by the inverters of the drive signal generator 43 and inputted to the AND gate. As a result, upon reception of a signal outputted from the AND gate, the drive signal generator 43 outputs a drive signal d to the switching circuit 44 (refer to Fig. 8F) to turn on the switching circuit 44.

When the switching circuit 44 turns on, the motor 14 starts rotating. This rotation is transmitted to the rotary shaft 26 via the gears 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, and 25. In this case, although the switching circuit 44 turns off after the motor 14 starts rotating, the motor 14 continues to be powered via the disk cam 27. More specifically, the recesses 28 of the disk cam 28 are formed at the positions which provide such a proper timing that when the rollers 32 and 33 rotates-half from the position Y of the opening 38, the contact plate 30 enters the recess 28 of the disk cam 27 fixed to the rotary shaft 26 and the electric circuit path between the motor 14 and the power source 45 is disconnected.As a result, until the contact plate 30 enters the recess 28, the motor 14 continues rotating because -it is electrically connected to the power source 45 via the contact plate 34, rotary shaft 26, disk cam 27, and contact plate 30. As the rotary shaft 26 continues rotating, the rotary disk plate 31 also rotates so that the rollers 32 and 33 make a circular motion while in contact with the inner wall of the ellipsoidal opening 38 formed in the wide area portion 37.

As the rollers 32 and 33 move along the inner wall of the ellipsoidal opening 38, the lever 35 carries out the above-described operation, i.e., a pivotal motion in the direction indicated at Z about the bearing shaft 36.

As the lever 35 pivots, the actuation button 39 depresses the push button 101 of the washing apparatus to supply washing liquid and wash the pot 100.

When the contact plate 30 enters the recess 28 of the disk cam 27, a circuit path is disconnected between the motor 14 and the power source 45, so that the motor 14 stops rotating and the rotary shaft 26 also stops rotating. The number of recesses 28 may be set as desired such as three recesses so long as the abovedescribed timing can be satisfied.

Next, the case where many water closet pots are disposed in a water closet of such as a station will be described with reference to Fig. 9.

If a plurality of water closet pots each having the automatic washing apparatus of the present invention are juxtaposed in a water closet, and if a pot far from the entrance of the water closet is to be used, it becomes necessary to pass in front of a pot or pots nearer to the entrance. In this case, each pyroelectric sensor 41 provided to each pot outputs a detection signal a when a person comes near it, and outputs a detection signal b when the person goes away from it (refer to Fig. 9A1).

The detection signals a and b are processed by the signal processor 42 to wave-shape them into pulse signals al and bl (refer to Fig. 9B1, Cl), in the manner described previously. The pulse signal al causes the one-shot multivibrator (not shown) of the drive signal generator 44 to turn on for a predetermined time period (refer to Fig. 9D1). However, in this case, the detection signal b is outputted shortly after the detection signal a while the one-shot multivibrator turns on for a predetermined time period. As a result, the pulse signal by is not inputted to the AND gate so that the drive signal d will not be outputted from the drive signal generator 43 and the motor 14 will not be rotated.In this manner, even a person passes in front of a pot, the washing apparatus will not operate and unnecessary washing liquid will not be drained.

The automatic water closet pot washing apparatus of the present invention can be mounted on an already installed push button type washing apparatus, without disposing the already installed apparatus. After the pot is used, the pot can be automatically washed. Since the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus of the present invention uses a mechanical system for depressing a push button, it can be readily mounted on an already installed washing apparatus.

Furthermore, even in the case where the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus is dismounted because of any trouble thereof, the pot can still be used by manually using the push button. The automatic washing apparatus of the- present invention can be used as a simple type automatic washing apparatus. Still further, a battery is used as the power source so that there is no wiring work in a water closet, resulting in a compact apparatus. Since a half of the rotation of the disk cam allows to depress the push button of the washing apparatus, power for driving the motor can be saved and the battery life can be extended.

The automatic water closet pot washing apparatus of the present invention can be mounted on any type of an already installed push button type washing apparatus. A washing apparatus illustratively shown in Fig. 10 has a washing unit 103 near at a flush valve case 102; With this washing apparatus, when a push button 101 is depressed, washing water fed via the flush valve case 102 is mixed with washing agent and supplied to the pot via a washing pipe 104. The washing unit 103 of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3150/1975. With this washing unit, every time washing water is fed via a flush valve case, not only air from deodorant can be expelled into atmospheric air but also washing agent or the like can be supplied to the pot. Such a washing apparatus can use the automatic water closet pot washing apparatus of the present invention by mounting the latter so as to make a push button to be depressed by the actuation lever.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An automatic water closet pot washing apparatus which detects a use of a pot and supplies washing liquid, characterized in that the apparatus comprises: a sensor for sensing an access to and a departure from said pot, of a far infrared ray generating source; a signal processor for processing a signal outputted from said sensor when said sensor senses one of an access to or a departure from said pot, of said far infrared ray generating source; a drive signal generating circuit for outputting a drive signal when said signal, outputted from said sensor when said sensor senses an access to said pot, of said far infrared ray generating source, continues for a predetermined time period; a drive source which is driven by said drive signal; a power transmission mechanism for transmitting a power from said drive source; ; a lever responsive to the operation of said power transmission mechanism for depressing a push button for supplying washing liquid of a washing apparatus mounted on said pot; and a mount base for mounting said automatic water closet pot washing apparatus on said pot.

2. ' An automatic water closet pot washing apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.